South West: People Begin Returning Home

Reports from Bus Stations in Bangem, Tiko, Limbe, Kumba, Muyuka, Mamfe, Tombe and in Buea where Cameroon Tribune observed affirmed that there has been a progressive influx of passengers from towns like Douala, Nkongsamba, Yabassi, Yaoundé since October 10, 2018. The travellers are returning after making one of the greatest mass exodus recorded in contemporary times.

It was triggered by rumours on social media of an imminent onslaught by supposedly separatists and a complete shutdown of movement in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. The rumour mongers, mostly in the diaspora, then manipulated the gullible population who most are social media addicts and successfully pushed them out of their peaceful abodes.

The commuters that alighted from a 30-seated coaster at the Mile 17 Bus Station at 3:40 pm on Friday October 12, 2018, had different versions on why they are coming back. “People are coming back and I decided to come back also. I have been in Pendamboko for two weeks and it has not been easy financially. Since I felt that my family was not safe in the midst of the crisis in Buea, I was forced to move out from my Sand Pit residence but I am back now,” Nchindia Ebenezer, a returning Buea denizen said.

Tubo Margaret who had escaped from Kumba to Loum in the Littoral Region, leaving her husband back in Kumba who refused to move an inch, expressed surprise that the much anticipated full scale war announced on social media did not take place.

That notwithstanding, she was worried on information from her husband on the sporadi...